Well, that spoils the fact that the hero didn’t really die… I guess DreamWorks was afraid people would think it was darker than it really is and wouldn’t take the kids to see it. Note that in the similar The Incredibles several characters died, but then again, Incredibles wasn’t a total parody.
Anyway I will see this movie (big surprise there ) because it just looks so funny. It’s Farrell and Fey, it’s basically an hour-and-a-half SNL sketch! But how’d they get [STRIKE]Sinistral[/STRIKE] Brad Pitt for Metro Man??
I wonder how DC comics let DreamWorks get away with such a blatant Superman rip-off however. Flying and Super strength, OK, lots of heroes with those powers… Metro- City? Kinda… Heat vision? Not so much. Not to mention the Kryptonian origin(s) parody… maybe they had a special deal. After all if this is a hit it will only bring more attention to Superman I think.
I don’t know about it… I’ve kind of been put off the majority of animated movies lately because there’s just been too much of them. I guess it seems alright, but I’ll probably give it a pass.
Parody is considered “fair use” for purposes of copyright.
Oh, I know that, but there are limits to it. In the Incredibles, for example, it was obvious that the main characters were based on several Marvel characters (the Fantastic Four, Iceman, etc.) but Marvel didn’t protest. On the other hand, DC comics objectioned to Elastigirl’s name because they own the name for a similar character… that hadn’t been used in decades. Eventually they settled with Pixar in that she would not be called Elastigirl in any related merchandise (they called her Mrs. Incredible instead.)
The name, though, isn’t a part of copyright. It’s a trademark. Fair use rationale for trademarks is much, much, much more limited than Copyright claims.
OK, saw the movie now. It was actually better than I expected; oh, it was a satire all the way through; but it had its moving moments. I was particularly touched by how effective the part where Roxanne finds out the guy she’s been dating is actually Megamind. was. Both sounded suitably devastated.
The one thing I couldn’t stand was when Megamind’s scheme to fool Titan into thinking that he was Metro-Man failed because… he revealed his identity to Roxie too early. AAARRGH!!! It would also have been nice if Metro Man had really showed up to help in the end and joined forces with his old rival. It would have made him look less of a selfish jerk (I can understand his allowing Megamind to “win” because he knew him well enough by now to know he wasn’t a real menace, but Titan was.) But since this is such a comedy I’ll forgive it.
Otherwise everything works: the acting, the dialog, and the SFX. People keep comparing it to Unspeakable Me! But I think it’s more like Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Except, not as fatalistic.
) because it just looks so funny. It’s Farrell and Fey, it’s basically an hour-and-a-half SNL sketch! But how’d they get [STRIKE]Sinistral[/STRIKE] Brad Pitt for Metro Man??